Brief Brain Lateralization Theory
Roger Sperry’s Theory of Brain Lateralization
Abdul Raouf Abdul Razak
B1301605
PSY111
Help University
Dr Eugene Tee, Alex Lui, Dr Goh Chee Leong
Human brain was thought of as a whole equally functional unit. Recent discoveries have showed that the human brain is divided into two distinctive hemispheres with distinctive functions. Most commonly in the human brain, the left hemisphere controls logical thinking, while the right hemisphere controls creativity. Although, patients suffering from neurological impairment may differ from this. The left hemisphere, is known to control language skills (Broca, 1861), solving logical problems and also possessing positive emotions. While the right hemisphere controls our shape distinction skills, face-recognition, music and negative emotions. This two hemispheres work together, with neurons connecting both sides in the corpus callosum. It is the ratio of dominance between the two hemispheres that forms a particular individual with personality as distinctive as our fingerprints.
Earliest research on the lateralization theory was done by Broca, 1861, who was involved with a patient nicknamed “Tan”. Tan had a cyst on his left hemisphere, causing him to only able to utter a single word, “Tan”. Hence, his nickname. This lead to the discovery of the lateralization of brain functions. Besides a cyst, or any other direct impairment to the brain, speech disabilities can also be caused from an incomplete hemispheric lateralization. A form of competition between both hemispheres, the left hemisphere with a logical approach and the right hemisphere, with the more negative-emotion approach, which could be the cause of stuttering (Orton, 1927).
Roger Sperry, a Nobel laureate, won a Nobel Prize in 1981 together with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel for their research on brain lateralization. Sperry’s earliest research, included a cat, his question was “how can the learning with one eye appear with
Abdul Raouf Abdul Razak
B1301605
PSY111
Help University
Dr Eugene Tee, Alex Lui, Dr Goh Chee Leong
Human brain was thought of as a whole equally functional unit. Recent discoveries have showed that the human brain is divided into two distinctive hemispheres with distinctive functions. Most commonly in the human brain, the left hemisphere controls logical thinking, while the right hemisphere controls creativity. Although, patients suffering from neurological impairment may differ from this. The left hemisphere, is known to control language skills (Broca, 1861), solving logical problems and also possessing positive emotions. While the right hemisphere controls our shape distinction skills, face-recognition, music and negative emotions. This two hemispheres work together, with neurons connecting both sides in the corpus callosum. It is the ratio of dominance between the two hemispheres that forms a particular individual with personality as distinctive as our fingerprints.
Earliest research on the lateralization theory was done by Broca, 1861, who was involved with a patient nicknamed “Tan”. Tan had a cyst on his left hemisphere, causing him to only able to utter a single word, “Tan”. Hence, his nickname. This lead to the discovery of the lateralization of brain functions. Besides a cyst, or any other direct impairment to the brain, speech disabilities can also be caused from an incomplete hemispheric lateralization. A form of competition between both hemispheres, the left hemisphere with a logical approach and the right hemisphere, with the more negative-emotion approach, which could be the cause of stuttering (Orton, 1927).
Roger Sperry, a Nobel laureate, won a Nobel Prize in 1981 together with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel for their research on brain lateralization. Sperry’s earliest research, included a cat, his question was “how can the learning with one eye appear with